by ILSE ROETS
If your child is struggling with maths, it doesn’t mean they’re lazy or not trying hard enough. For many neurodiverse learners, traditional maths classrooms can feel like a minefield.
I’ve spent over 15 years working with neurodiverse students, and here’s what I’ve learnt: when we understand how their brains work differently, we can turn those struggles into genuine strengths. The challenges are real, yes. But so are the remarkable abilities these students bring to mathematical thinking.
Einstein was famously neurodiverse. Richard Branson, founder of Virgin, has dyslexia and speaks openly about how thinking differently became his greatest business asset. These aren’t exceptions. They’re examples of what becomes possible when we work with neurodiverse minds rather than against them.
The traditional classroom often wasn’t designed with neurodiverse minds in mind. That doesn’t mean these students can’t excel at maths. It simply means we need to teach differently. And when we do, the results can be extraordinary.
Understanding the Unique Challenges Neurodiverse Students Face
Neurodiverse students often face challenges that aren’t immediately visible to teachers or even parents. These aren’t excuses. They’re real neurological differences that affect how information is processed. Understanding them is the first step to providing effective support.
Working Memory Overload
Working memory is like your brain’s sticky notes. It holds information temporarily whilst you work with it. For many neurodiverse learners, these sticky notes fill up quickly. Think about a teacher reading out “35 times 27” and expecting students to calculate it mentally. Or a word problem that says “Your train journey starts at 7:12 and you arrive at your destination at 8:09. How long was your journey?” By the time a neurodiverse student is thinking about how to solve it, the numbers might have already slipped away. When a maths problem requires holding several pieces of information in mind at once, it becomes genuinely exhausting. It’s not a lack of understanding. It’s the brain managing more than it can comfortably hold whilst also trying to do the actual mathematics.
Processing Speed Differences
Processing speed isn’t about intelligence. It’s about how quickly the brain can take in, make sense of and respond to information. Neurodiverse learners often need more time to work through multi-step problems, not because they don’t understand, but because their brains are processing more thoroughly or in different ways. Timed tests become particularly difficult because they measure speed rather than understanding. A student might fully grasp the concept but run out of time before they can show that knowledge. This is why I’ve always believed that time pressure reveals very little about actual mathematical ability. Jo Boaler, a Stanford mathematics education professor, has written extensively about the damage caused by the myth that maths needs to happen quickly. Her research shows that timed testing actually creates maths anxiety and doesn’t reflect genuine mathematical thinking. The mathematicians doing the most important work aren’t racing against clocks. They’re thinking deeply and creatively.
Symbol Confusion and Visual Processing
Similar-looking numbers, letters and symbols can be particularly challenging. Common confusions include mixing up 6 and 9, b and d, plus and multiplication signs when handwritten, negative signs that look like subtraction, or variables like x, y and z. This isn’t carelessness. It’s a genuine visual processing difference that requires specific support strategies. Once we recognise this, we can work with it rather than against it.
Difficulty with Sequencing
Multi-step problems require holding a sequence in mind: first do this, then that, then this. For students with sequencing challenges, keeping track of where they are in a calculation can be like trying to follow directions whilst someone keeps shuffling the instruction cards. The result? They might understand each individual step perfectly but lose their place in the overall process. This can be particularly frustrating because the understanding is there. It’s the organisation that becomes the barrier.
Hidden Strengths: What Neurodiverse Learners Bring to Maths
Here’s what often gets missed: neurodiverse students frequently have exceptional abilities that can become genuine assets in mathematics. These aren’t consolation prizes. They’re real strengths that, when properly supported, can lead to remarkable mathematical thinking.
Pattern Recognition
Many neurodiverse learners spot number relationships and patterns with remarkable speed. Whilst others are working through calculations step by step, these students might see the underlying pattern immediately. This is a genuinely valuable mathematical skill. Professional mathematicians rely heavily on pattern recognition. It’s a bit like when my dog loses her ball. I look and point towards where it might be, and she goes off and sniffs it out herself. With neurodiverse learners, once you point them towards a pattern, they often discover the connections on their own. Students with strong pattern recognition might notice number sequences and relationships, symmetries in problems, connections between different mathematical concepts, or shortcuts that others miss. In my experience, this is often where their mathematical talent truly shines.
Creative Problem-Solving
Neurodiverse thinking often means approaching problems from unexpected angles. These students might not follow the textbook method, but their alternative approaches can be equally valid and sometimes more elegant. I’ve watched neurodiverse students solve problems in ways that made perfect sense mathematically but weren’t the “standard” approach. This is actually a sign of genuine understanding rather than regurgitating rote learning without comprehension. When a student can find their own path to the answer, they’re showing they truly grasp the underlying mathematics. This creative thinking is exactly what higher-level maths requires. It’s something to nurture, not correct.
Hyperfocus and Deep Engagement
When a neurodiverse learner becomes interested in a mathematical topic, their level of focus can be extraordinary. What looks like distraction in one context becomes intense concentration in another. The key is finding what captures their interest and building from there. I recall vividly an open-ended task I did with my Year 9 group. One student took that problem in a completely different direction than I’d anticipated. He’s now a multiple water ski world champion, and you can see that same outside-the-box thinking in practice when watching some of his own developed tricks. That creative problem-solving ability was there in the maths classroom first. When they’re engaged, these students often work at a depth that surpasses their neurotypical peers. I’ve seen students spend hours exploring a single concept simply because it fascinated them.
Visual-Spatial Thinking
Many neurodiverse learners think in pictures and spatial relationships rather than words and numbers. This can be a tremendous advantage in geometry, data visualisation and understanding mathematical concepts visually. Using concrete or pictorial images underpins how I tutor and teach. Where others see abstract symbols, these students might see shapes, patterns and spatial relationships. It’s a different but equally valid way of understanding mathematics. In fact, some of the most profound mathematical insights come from visual thinking.
Classroom Strategies: What Parents Can Share with Teachers
Collaboration between home and school can make an enormous difference. Many teachers genuinely want to support neurodiverse learners but may not know which specific adjustments would help most. These are strategies I’ve found effective over many years of teaching.
1. Provide Worked Examples and Step-by-Step Scaffolding
Worked examples reduce cognitive load by showing exactly how to approach a problem before asking students to solve similar ones independently. This is particularly helpful for working memory challenges. Effective scaffolding includes breaking problems into clearly labelled steps, using consistent colour-coding for different types of steps, providing templates or frameworks students can follow, and gradually removing support as confidence builds. The goal is always independence, but we build towards it. Many neurodiverse students struggle with short term memory and understanding and regular practise aids with getting the knowledge into long term memory.
2. Allow Extra Processing Time
This isn’t about lowering standards. It’s about measuring understanding rather than speed. Extra time allows neurodiverse learners to show what they genuinely know. I avoided teaching higher-level students for years until I discovered something about myself: I just process things more slowly than most. Once I understood that, everything changed. Now I love my higher-tier challenges so much that I’m even supporting A-level students as they settle into their first year. Processing speed and mathematical ability are two entirely different things. This might look like extended time during tests and exams, additional thinking time before requiring answers in class, written questions provided in advance when possible, or an opportunity to process verbal instructions before beginning tasks. Time pressure rarely reveals mathematical ability. It mostly reveals how quickly someone can work under pressure.
3. Reduce Unnecessary Copying from the Board
Copying from the board requires multiple skills simultaneously: visual processing, working memory, fine motor control and understanding. For many neurodiverse learners, this takes so much cognitive energy that there’s little left for actually learning the maths. Better alternatives include providing printed notes or partially completed notes, taking photos of board work for later reference, using digital displays that can be shared electronically, or focusing lesson time on understanding rather than copying. This isn’t making things easier. It’s removing barriers that have nothing to do with mathematical thinking.
4. Use Visual Aids and Manipulatives
Abstract concepts become concrete when students can see and touch them. Visual aids and manipulatives don’t just help. They transform understanding. Effective tools include coloured counters for demonstrating operations, fraction bars and circles, algebra tiles for equations, number lines for negative numbers and operations, and graph paper for organisation and spacing. I always encourage students to use these tools for as long as they’re helpful, not rush to abstract thinking before they’re ready.
5. Break Tasks into Manageable Chunks
Rather than presenting a full problem set at once, break work into smaller sections with brief breaks or changes of activity between them. Or connect to a real life example to make sense of what is happening. This prevents overwhelm and allows for a sense of progress. Small steps build confidence. Confidence builds willingness to try. And willingness to try is where all learning begins.
Practical At-Home Strategies That Work
You don’t need to be a maths expert to support your child effectively. These strategies have proven successful for hundreds of families over the years, and you can start using them straightaway.
1. Use Colour Coding to Reduce Confusion
Colour coding provides visual organisation, reducing cognitive load. You might highlight different steps in different colours (“Green for gathering like terms, blue for solving”), use colour to show relationships (“All the x terms are in red, all the constants (numbers) are in black”), create visual boundaries using coloured boxes or highlighters to separate different parts of complex problems, or develop a consistent system that you use reliably. I often use tables to separate processes. Especially great for comparing best option questions. The key is creating a system that makes sense to your child and using it consistently. Let them help choose the colours and meanings. When they have ownership, they’re more likely to use the system.
2. Break Problems into Smaller, Achievable Parts
Large problems feel overwhelming. Small steps feel manageable. Rather than presenting an entire equation or word problem at once, break it down: identify what information you have, identify what you need to find, choose an operation or method, solve one step at a time, then check your answer. I find that reading the question once before breaking it down helps with context. Each completed step is a small win that builds confidence and momentum. I’ve seen many students relax visibly when they realise they don’t have to hold the entire problem in their head at once.
3. Encourage Verbal Reasoning
Asking your child to explain their thinking out loud serves multiple purposes. It slows down the process, giving their brain time to process. It reveals where understanding breaks down, helping you target support. It strengthens their own understanding through articulation. And it builds the mathematical language they’ll need for exams, and also helps with that all-important process of getting the information into long-term memory. Try asking “Can you talk me through what you’re doing?”, “Why did you decide to do it that way?” “What would happen if…?” or “How does this connect to something we’ve done before?” Often, students discover their own understanding simply by explaining it. In the beginning, your child might just point to work they have used, and building up the correct vocabulary happens over time. For instance, I simplified the like terms. I might start with, I put the same things together first, then added them.
4. Use Visual Aids and Manipulatives
Abstract concepts become far more manageable when students can see what is happening rather than hold everything in their heads at once. Visual aids and manipulatives don’t just support understanding — they reduce working memory load. When a student can see quantities, relationships, or steps laid out in front of them, their brain no longer has to juggle multiple pieces of information simultaneously. This frees up mental space for actual mathematical thinking rather than memory management. Effective tools include coloured counters for demonstrating operations, fraction bars and circles, algebra tiles for equations, number lines for negative numbers and operations, and graph paper for organisation and spacing. I always encourage students to use these tools for as long as they are helpful, rather than rushing to abstract thinking before they are ready. The goal isn’t to avoid abstract maths. It’s to arrive there with understanding intact and cognitive overload removed.
5. Create External Memory Supports
Since working memory can be a challenge, create external supports that hold information. This might include formula sheets that are always available, step-by-step process cards for common problem types, multiplication grids rather than requiring memorisation, glossaries of mathematical terms with examples, or checklist cards for multi-step problems. These aren’t crutches. They’re reasonable accommodations that allow students to demonstrate their mathematical thinking without being limited by memory challenges. I’ve never believed that memorising formulas proves mathematical understanding. Using them appropriately does.
6. Celebrate Small Wins Consistently
Progress isn’t always linear, and motivation depends on feeling successful. Celebrate correct process, even if the answer is wrong. Celebrate improved speed or confidence, not just accuracy. Celebrate willingness to try challenging problems, creative approaches to solving, and asking good questions. Build a culture where effort and thinking are valued as much as correct answers. Mathematics is about reasoning, not just getting things right the first time.
7. Establish Predictable Routines
Many neurodiverse learners thrive with structure and predictability. Create routines around maths practice: same time and place when possible, same sequence of activities (warm-up, main work, reflection), clear start and end points to reduce anxiety, and break times built in rather than depending on completing work. Routines reduce cognitive load and emotional stress, leaving more energy for learning. When students know what to expect, they can focus on the mathematics rather than managing uncertainty.
When to Seek Additional Support
Sometimes, despite your best efforts and supportive teaching, your child may need additional specialised support. This isn’t failure. It’s recognising when professional help makes sense. Consider seeking support if anxiety about maths is affecting other areas of life (refusing to go to school, physical symptoms, extreme distress), progress has plateaued despite consistent support, the gap between your child and peers is widening, or your relationship with your child is suffering because homework time has become a battleground. Professional support might include specialist maths tutoring with experience in neurodiverse learning, educational psychology assessment to understand specific learning difficulties, occupational therapy for fine motor or sensory challenges, or maths anxiety intervention if emotional barriers are the primary concern. Getting help isn’t giving up. It’s knowing when to bring in someone with the specific skills your child needs. We specialise in supporting neurodiverse learners to discover their mathematical strengths whilst building skills in their challenge areas. If you’d like to explore how tailored tutoring could help your child thrive, book a free consultation with Square Roets Maths to discuss their unique learning profile and how we can help.
Your Next Steps: From Understanding to Action
Supporting a neurodiverse learner can feel overwhelming at times. You don’t have to do it alone, and you don’t have to do everything at once. Small changes can make a significant difference. Here’s how to move forward thoughtfully:
- Start with one strategy this week. Don’t try to implement everything at once. Choose one approach from this article that feels right for you and your child, and try it consistently for a week. Notice what happens.
- Communicate with your child’s teacher. Share what you’re observing about your child’s difficulties when doing maths. Many teachers are grateful for parent insights and willing to make adjustments when they understand what would help. You’re partners in this.
- Build on your child’s strengths. Identify one mathematical strength your child has (pattern recognition, visual thinking, creative problem-solving) and find opportunities for them to use it. Strengths aren’t just nice to have. They’re the foundation we build from. Sometimes, even their hobbies and interests might provide that hook. I have even been known to take up Pokémon Go or learn more about fishing and online games to find the right connection.
- Connect with other parents. You’re not alone in this journey. Finding a community of parents who understand the challenges and celebrate the wins can be invaluable. Sometimes just knowing others face similar struggles helps.
The most important thing to remember: your neurodiverse child isn’t broken or deficient. They simply learn differently. When we teach to their strengths whilst supporting their challenges, remarkable things happen. Every positive mathematical experience builds not just skills, but confidence. And confident learners become capable mathematicians, regardless of how their brains are wired.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: My child was just diagnosed with ADHD/dyslexia/autism. Where do I start with maths support? Start by asking for help understanding the diagnosis report itself. The report should outline your child’s specific profile, strengths and areas of need. Not all neurodiverse learners face the same challenges, so understanding what the assessment revealed about your child specifically is essential. Communicate with teachers about what you’re observing at home and what the report indicates. Then begin with the accommodations that address their primary challenges (working memory, processing speed, and so on). Don’t try to implement everything at once. Focus on what will have the biggest impact first. One change, done well, is better than many changes done inconsistently.
Q: Are these accommodations “cheating” or lowering standards? No. Accommodations level the playing field. They don’t lower expectations. A student using a multiplication grid isn’t cheating any more than someone wearing glasses is cheating at seeing. These supports allow students to demonstrate their mathematical understanding without being limited by unrelated challenges like memory or processing speed. We’re measuring maths understanding, not memory or speed under pressure.
Q: My child’s teacher says these strategies would help all students. Is my child really neurodiverse? Good teaching strategies often help everyone, yes. But neurodiverse students may need them to access learning, not just to enhance it. The difference is that these strategies are helpful for neurotypical students. For neurodiverse learners, they’re often essential. That doesn’t mean your child’s needs aren’t real or significant. It means good teaching benefits everyone, but some students can’t learn effectively without it. Q: How do I balance supporting my child without doing the work for them? Focus on teaching the process rather than just getting to the answer. Ask guiding questions (“What would you try first?” “What information do you have?”) rather than giving direct instructions. Provide scaffolding that reduces cognitive load. Like reading through the question once, then covering it up and looking for information line by line to unfold all the clues to answer the final question, whilst ensuring they’re doing the thinking. Celebrate their reasoning even when answers are incorrect. The goal is always to build independence, but we get there through supported practice, not by leaving them to struggle alone.
Q: Will my child always need these accommodations, or will they eventually “catch up”? Some challenges persist, whilst others can be compensated for with developed strategies and increased confidence. The goal isn’t necessarily to remove all support, but to help your child develop their own toolkit of strategies they can use independently. Many successful adults with neurodiverse profiles continue using accommodations. That’s not failure. It’s an intelligent strategy. We all use tools that help us work more effectively.
Q: My child refuses to use accommodations because they don’t want to be “different.” What can I do? This is common, especially with older students. Frame accommodations as tools that everyone uses. Athletes have specialised equipment. Musicians have different instruments. Mathematicians have tools, too. Highlight successful neurodiverse people who openly use accommodations. Sometimes, allowing them to choose which accommodations to use (rather than imposing them all) increases buy-in. Building confidence through small successes often reduces resistance over time. And sometimes, we need to respect their choice whilst keeping the door open for later.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ilse Roets is the founder of Square Roets Maths and a passionate advocate for lifelong learning. With over two decades of experience in maths education, Ilse has helped hundreds of students overcome maths anxiety through personalised, holistic support. As a dyslexic educator and lifelong learner, Ilse brings empathy, insight, and practical strategies to every child she teaches.
